The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-02-10
AGRICUL R AL.
Good and Bad Farming.
Some Practical Thoughts for the Far
mer to Consider.
TFranklintOn Weekly.1

There are a few plain facts that con-
stitute the 4. b, c's of success in farm
ing. These are indispensable and the
man who is not perfectly cognlzant of
them will never succeed. The first is,
that a man must actually work six
good full days in each and every week,
and fifty two weeks in year to make
much of success in any business,
This is absolutely necessary to make a
living in most lines of business, but in
farming man may live and work
about half his time, but he will always
be pressed for money to meet his bills.
AS proof of this assertion, we ask you
to select the most successful farmer
you know, we don't mean the man
who can talk most learnedly on the
theory of agriculture, but the man who
puts the greatest amount of clear cash
in his pocket and see how he works.
The second element is variety of
crops. This is the newspaper mans
old hackneyed stand by. Every news
paper man almost at this season of the
year, offers a few suggestions gratis to
the farmers along this line. With this
apology for mentioning this feature we
| will proceed a little more in detail on
this point, We must raise plenty of
feed for all kinds of stock. The va
rious grasses should take the lead as
they are cheapest. Cat-tail millet
seed, properly cared for, are worth
more than their weight in pure refin
ed gold. Milo maize is a valuable
crop; Indian corn planted thick for
fodder is good. Oats, turnips and
sweet potatoes are simply invaluable
for stock feeding. Stock raising pays
nice profits if the feeding is liberal
and intelligent, but without variety OF
crops there is no feed, without feed
there is no stock, without stock there
is no manure, and without manure
there is no success in farming. 1t will
not do to depend entirely on COM
merCial fertilizers. A farmer who keep
two horses, two COWS, and raises half a
dozen porkers a year ought, and car
raise a thousand loads of good barn
yard manure in a year. This will
make ten acres of land almost rich
and in few years will put his farm in
good condition. The man however
who is afraid he will work too much
buys guano and uses that alone, and
he and his land both get poorer and
poorer year by year until he has tc
sell even his cotton seed to the OF
mills to pay his mortgage at the enc
of the year. A moments thought will
convince any man that this is ruinous
Why it will take within the neighbor
hood of $4,000 to pay the last year
guano bill for this township. Thinl
of it. We would not be understood
as saving that this is clear loss, bu
we do unhesitatingly say that it doe
not now, never has and never will pay
Our father used to make us hau
dirt, muck, woods mould, &c, to com
post with cotton seed or stable manure
Often we have suggested that it woult
not pay to haul certain things. Hi
stereotyped reply was, ''mix plenty Q
cotton seed and stable manure with i
and it will do good" So we woulc
say use plenty of cotton seed and goot
barn yard manure, compost, &c., ant
then mix commercial fertilizers wit
and it will do good. This is part O
what we mean by saying the success
full farmer must raise a variety c
crops.
, The next item is to steer clear c
the present system of tenant farming
1t will certainly result in the ruin {
teams, tools, land, land owher, an
tenant, and quite frequently some {
their neighbors.
J A very important thing is to kee
out of debt. A gentleman in our Of
,, flee a day or two since said, he coul
, buy corn for sixty cents a bushel fc
3 cash, and enc dollar and ten cents o
hne Could anything be more ruir
Gus? The successful farmer certainl
never can travel that road.
The need of the hour is girls VIII
will work; girls who can p'ow an
husk corn and feed cattle and Cho
a wood; girls who can support husband
. play on the piano. cook, talk polite
i spank babies, make home pleasar
: and agreeable, build d pair of pant;
. looms, paint landscape, darn stoCl
t. lngs, and the thousands and one otht
9 little things that go to make home
home in reality. The dear young me-
of the period who are spending the
time and money in loahng aroun
town, somking cigars and drinkin
Z "prohibition," must have just sue
wives as this or they will suffer for II
| DereSS9rieS of life -EIs/y,J- /;p6t